Business as usual for LNG supplies in May?

Disruptions to LNG supplies in France and Yemen have caused issues with distribution in April.

Six cargoes of liquefied natural gas exports, from Yemen LNG, were cancelled at the beginning of April due to the attack on its supply line. But all cargoes will be loaded on schedule in May, Yemen LNG said in a statement.

The company said it expects to complete its annual maintenance shutdown on Friday (today), nine days ahead of the original schedule, which was brought forward after the gas line was sabotaged on 30th March.

“We will increase LNG production to redeliver as much of the cancelled cargoes as possible before year end,” Yemen LNG General Manager, Francois Rafin said.

“We are confident in the prompt reinforcement of the surveillance and protection of the pipeline - the mobilisation of a new security deployment is already in progress.”

Yemen’s oil and gas pipelines have been repeatedly sabotaged since anti-government protests last year created a power vacuum that militants have exploited.

Elsewhere, in France, workers at GDF Suez’s LNG terminals in western and southern France blocked the unloading of vessels for a third consecutive day to demand a better sharing out of profits, the CGT union said on Thursday.

The workers demand a raise in their annual bonus to reflect the companies’ higher profits, a CGT union official said.

Two vessels were blocked at Fos Tonkin and Fos Cavaou, near Marseille on the Mediterranean, the union said. Another vessel was also blocked at the Montoir LNG terminal on the Atlantic.

LNG currently accounts for around a third of gas supplies in France.

Union officials have said the strike could lead to gas shortages if the action is prolonged because of a combination of low gas storage levels and cold weather, which is forecast to continue until Wednesday, pushing heating demand higher.

But a GDF Suez spokesman said earlier this week the strike would not lead to gas shortages because the gas network is well supplied and temperatures are relatively mild.

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